Donald Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs may be the difference between life and death for some US companies
- US president sent shock waves through global markets when he announced the 10 per cent levy on US$200 billion of Chinese goods would increase to 25 per cent
- Trade representative Robert Lighthizer set to kick in tariffs on Friday after the US accused China of reneging on some of its commitments during recent talks
In 25 years of working with American companies in the fashion industry, Karen Giberson does not remember a more challenging time – and it is about to get worse.
“We have had tough times before. 2008 when the markets crashed – we saw a number of our companies go through consolidation, some went out of business,” said Giberson, president of the Accessories Council, a trade group.
“We had a lot of good friends and colleagues that were job eliminated. But I would say this last year, the pressure on our companies with tariffs [is worse].”
US President Donald Trump sent shock waves through global markets on Sunday when he announced that from Friday, the 10 per cent that had been levied on US$200 billion of goods made in China would increase to 25 per cent.
Further reports confirmed that US trade representative Robert Lighthizer would issue a Federal Register notice on Wednesday in order for the tariffs to kick in on "the first minute" of Friday, after accusing China of reneging on some of its commitments in the last round of trade talks in Beijing.
“We are feeling the 10 per cent and we're all hoping that there's not another 15 per cent added. A synthetic handbag coming from China is the highest tariffed product I think, period. If it was 25 per cent added on, it would be over 45 per cent tariff,” Giberson added.